


Something Entirely New

by Smokeycut



Category: Batman - Fandom
Genre: Bittersweet, F/M, Goodbyes, Starting Over
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 16:58:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14794418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smokeycut/pseuds/Smokeycut
Summary: The world believes that Basil Karlo is dead and gone. Only Victoria October knows the truth. Together, where will they go? What will they do? And will they be able to start over again?





	Something Entirely New

It was a cold night in Gotham. Flurries of snow whipped around the lone figure who stood outside of Leslie Thompkins' clinic, and for the first time in a long time, he felt the chill all throughout his body. He made his way to the waiting car, his hands shoved deep into his coat pockets. 

He should have talked to her. Told her himself that he'd be okay. She deserved that much, but he just couldn't bring himself to knock on that door. He reminded himself that she had people who cared about her, that she didn't need him anymore. That she had moved on. That if he were to look her in the eyes, he might never have been able to leave. But he needed to get away. Gotham was no place for him. Harper, and Bruce, and Leslie, and Barbara, and all of the others... She was better off with them looking out for her than she was when it was just him. Still, he hoped that the note he had left on her door would bring a smile to her face. He wanted her to know, at the very least, that he was okay.

"Did you see her?" Victoria called out from the driver's seat of a waiting car. 

"Yeah, Doc... She's going to be just fine without me," he answered in a low voice. He nearly winced as he spoke. It sounded like he had gravel lining his throat, even in a fully human form. His voice, the way the cold was affecting him... He still couldn't tell just how much his physiology had changed since he faked his death. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he approached the car. He slipped into the passenger seat, and looked at Victoria. She looked back at him with a wistful look on her face. For a few moments, he said nothing, until he noticed his vision blur. It took him a moment to realize what it was, but then it clicked. He hadn't felt real tears, natural tears, fall down his cheeks since his accident. He hadn't been able to...

"I think I'm ready now, Victoria," he told her, his voice shaking more with each word. "Let's get the hell out of this city before I change my mind. It's time to become something new."

She nodded her head, put the car in drive, and began a course for the city limits as Basil leaned back in his seat and sighed.

**************************************************

"You're sure about the name?" Victoria asked him, raising an eyebrow. She sat down on the bed in their motel room and looked at the fake ID Basil had procured.

"Not a fan?" Basil asked as he shut the door.

"No, no, it's fine. I just want to be certain that it's the one you like best. I wouldn't criticize anyone for the name they pick for themselves." She welcomed him as he sat beside her, and leaned into him as he wrapped an arm around her. 

"I used it a bit back in Gotham," Basil admitted. "Guess I'm just sorta used to it at this point. Besides, it's just another role, yeah? I can play anyone," he said with a bitter smile.

"I don't want you to play anyone, Basil," she whispered. She brought a gloved hand up to his cheek and gently turned his head so he was looking her in the eyes. "This is all so that you can finally, _truly_ be yourself again."

"Thanks, Doc. I'm just sorry you had to ditch town with me..."

"There's no place I'd rather be than beside you, Basil," she told him in earnest. He looked deep into her silver eyes and knew that she was telling the truth. Victoria watched in breathtaken silence as Basil's eyes shifted from blue to green, and then to brown, before settling on green.

"Are you alright?" she asked, cupping his cheek in her hand.

He fell quiet, and massaged his arm nervously. The skin seemed to sag for a moment, before pulling back into place with a slight squelching noise. Victoria reached over and took his arm in her hand, examining it tenderly.

"Not sure," he answered at last. "It's like parts of me are human again, but other stuff is still clay. I can cry again, without meaning to. But my voice... Can't change that anymore, no matter how hard I try."

"I'll have to run some more tests once we find a place to settle down for a bit," Victoria mused. "Let me know if you experience any pain or discomfort, okay?"

"You got it, Doc," he said with a small smile. "It's gettin' late, and we got a hell of a way to go 'till we get to the east coast," he noted upon seeing the wall clock hit midnight. 

"Then let's get some sleep, my dear," Victoria decided. Basil helped her undress, and vice versa, before they slipped under the covers and turned out the lights.

"I love you, Victoria," he whispered as she nestled into his chest.

"I love you too, Basil... Matt," she corrected herself.

And with that said, Victoria October and the newly named Matt Hagan fell asleep in one another's arms. 

**************************************************

"D'you mind if we pull over in a bit?" Matt asked. He had an arm hanging out the window of the car, and he felt the wind run through his fingers. They had made it across several states in a shorter time than expected, and were on course to arrive in California by the end of the day. 

"Sure thing," Victoria answered. She adjusted her sunglasses with a touch of her finger, and glanced over at her partner. "Are you alright?" she asked, a worried twinge audible in her voice.

"Yeah, it's just... I think I'm... _hungry_..." he looked at over at her as the last word left his lips, the realization sinking in. He couldn't remember the last time he even had a stomach in need of filling. He laughed. A short, ragged gasp of a laugh at first, but it quickly turned to a joyous uproar. Victoria couldn't help but smile. 

By the time they found an exit and pulled into the parking lot of a diner, he was practically salivating, and he couldn't think of anything other than eating his first bite of food in ages. The first of many. 

**************************************************

They settled down on the other end of the country from where they began. A small house in California became their home. It took hardly any time at all for Victoria to sign on at STAR Labs and begin her research into post-human-physiology once again. For Basil, or rather Matt, the road to understanding his new nature of his abilities was a long one, but as the seasons passed by, he found himself coming to terms with himself once again. 

He found himself standing out on the porch one morning. A year had passed since the day that Basil Karlo died, down to the very day, and yet he had never felt more alive. He held his wife's hand in his own and he looked at her with all the reverence and adoration that he felt for her. He knew that he would never have been able to do it without her. He would have gone back, or given up on his road to recovery. But with her there, pulling him further and further into the potential future that she could see for him, he didn't doubt that such a life was possible. 

He would forever cherish the memories of his brief time as a hero, rather than as a villain. But the past was the past, and if meeting Victoria had taught him anything, it was that he ought to look toward the future. And finally, after all the struggling and falling... He was at peace with his life.

**************************************************

_Cass_

_I hope you've got someone there to read this to you, kid. You deserve to know, more than anyone. I'm okay. I'm alive. I'm sure I caused you no end of grief when I tricked all of you into thinking I died, but believe me when I say that it was for the best. At least, I hope it was._

_That cure that the doc developed didn't exactly work, but, well... Neither did that bullet Kate fired at me. Splattered me good, that's for sure, but I would have been able to come back from it eventually. Victoria knew that when she gathered up some of my clay. She told you all that it was lifeless, that I was gone, but it was a lie. She took me back to her lab, waited for me to put myself back together again, and then we sat down and tried to figure out what to do next. We knew that as long as I stuck around, The Victim Syndicate was gonna try to screw with my head, and that nobody would trust Batman with me around. So we waited to see how it all turned out, and once I knew you were gonna be alright, I made my decision. Hope you aren't mad at me._

_Victoria and I are leaving Gotham. We're starting over somewhere new. Trying to see if we can start a life together. It's better this way. You helped me realize that I could be more than a monster, Cassandra. That it's possible for me to be a good person. Now I'm going to prove it. And hey, keep an eye out for the movies. "Matt Hagen" might have a big career in front of him._

_Basil_

**Author's Note:**

> I would have posted this earlier, but I wanted to make sure that I gave them a properly happy future together. Here's hoping DC doesn't ruin their happy ending.


End file.
